1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to improvements of a fault information managing method and a fault information managing program for a trunk transmission device which includes main signal packages for each device for detecting a fault generated in each device as well as recovery of the fault and transmitting a fault generation notification and a fault recovery notification to a monitoring control package and includes the monitoring control package which receives the fault generation notification and the fault recovery notification from each of the main signal packages and transmits at least a part thereof to a master device.
2. Description of the Related Art
As the trunk transmission device which includes the main signal packages for each device for detecting a fault generated in each device as well as recovery of the fault and transmitting a fault generation notification and a fault recovery notification to the monitoring control package and includes the monitoring control package which receives the fault generation notification and the fault recovery notification from each of the main signal packages and transmits at least a part thereof to a master device, the trunk transmission device as shown in FIG. 13 is already well-known.
This trunk transmission device 100 includes: main signal packages 103a, 103b, - - - for each of devices 102a, 102b, - - - which detect a fault generated in each of the devices 102a, 102b, - - - as the targets of control as well as recovery of the fault and transmit a fault generation notification and a fault recovery notification to a monitoring control package 101; and the monitoring control package 101 which receives the fault generation notification and the fault recovery notification from each of the main signal packages 103a, 103b, - - - and transmits at least a part thereof to a master device 104 such as a user terminal or a master monitoring system.
A microprocessor 105 of the monitoring control package 101 and microprocessors 106a, 106b, - - - of each of the main signal processors 103a, 103b, - - - are connected to be able to transmit information mutually via an in-device bus 107 of the microprocessor 105 and in-device buses 108a, 108b, - - - of the microprocessors 106a, 106b, - - - . Further, the microprocessor 105 of the monitoring control package 101 and a microprocessor of the master device 104 are connected mutually to be able to transmit information via an interface 109 used for outside the device.
The microprocessor 105 of the monitoring control package 101 includes a storage module 110 constituted with a ROM, a RAM, and a nonvolatile memory. Further, the microprocessors 106a, 106b, - - - of the main signal packages 103a, 103b, - - - also include storage modules 111a, 111b, - - - each being constituted with a ROM, a RAM, and a nonvolatile memory.
The storage modules 111a, 111b, - - - of the main signal packages 103a, 103b, - - - store a control program for drive-controlling the devices 102a, 102b, - - - to be the targets of control done by the microprocessors 106a, 106b, - - - , a program for detecting a fault generated in the devices 102a, 102b, - - - as well as recovery of the fault by using the microprocessors 106a, 106b, - - - , etc. The storage module 110 of the monitoring control package 101 stores a monitoring control package program and the like for collecting and processing the fault generation notification and the fault recovery notification sent from the microprocessors 106a, 106b, - - - of the main signal packages 103a, 103b, - - - , and further transferring those to the microprocessor of the master device 104. Further, as shown in FIG. 14, the master device 104 is constituted with a normal personal computer or a work station functioning as a user terminal, a master monitoring system, or the like, and the master device 104 includes: a microprocessor 112 for arithmetic operation processing; a ROM 113 which stores a startup program and the like of the microprocessor 112; a nonvolatile memory 114 which stores various kinds of parameters and the like; a RAM 115 used for a temporal memory or the like of arithmetic operation data; a hard disk 117 as a mass-storage device; an interface 116 for connecting to the monitoring control package 101 of the trunk transmission device 100; and the like. A keyboard 119 as well as a mouse 120 functioning as man-to-machine interfaces and a monitor 121 functioning as a machine-to-man interface are connected to an input/output circuit 118 of the microprocessor 112.
The hard disk 117 constituting a part of the storage module of the master device 104 stores an application program for executing various applications by drive-controlling the microprocessor 112 of the master device 104, a master device program for processing data transmitted from the microprocessor 105 of the monitoring control package 101, etc.
More specifically, the monitoring control package program stored in the storage module 110 of the monitoring control package 101 is structured to store fault generation notifications transmitted from the microprocessors 106a, 106b, - - - of the main signal packages 103a, 103b, - - - to a data temporary storage region provided to the storage module 110 of the monitoring control package 101 along a time series cyclically without exception, and to measure a passage time from the point at which each instant fault generation history is stored by each instant fault generation history. The monitoring control package program is structured to erase the fault generation notification from the data temporary storage region of the storage module 110 when a fault recovery notification transmitted from the main signal packages 103a, 103b, - - - in accordance with a detection of recovery of the fault corresponding to the fault generation notification is detected before the passage time reaches a time set in advance. In the meantime, the monitoring control package program is structured to transfer the fault generation notification to the master device 104 as an alarm generation history, to erase the fault generation notification from the data temporary storage region of the storage module 110, and to store it as an alarm generation history to an alarm generation history storage table 122 of the storage module 110 when a fault recovery notification transmitted from the main signal packages 103a, 103b, - - - in accordance with a detection of recovery of the fault corresponding to the fault generation notification is not detected even after the passage time from the point at which the fault generation notification is stored reaches the time set in advance.
As a measuring module for measuring the passage time from the point at which the fault generation notification is stored by each fault generation notification, it is typical to use a counter or the like for counting a machine clock or the like of the microprocessor 105 of the monitoring control package 101.
Further, the fault generation notification transmitted from the monitoring control package 101 as the alarm generation history is received by the microprocessor 112 of the master device 104, and the microprocessor 112 of the master device 104 controlled by the master device program stores the fault generation notification as the alarm generation history to an alarm generation history storage table 123 that is provided to the hard disk 117 as the storage module of the master device 104.
Further, when the fault recovery notification transmitted from the main signal packages 163a, 103b, - - - in accordance with a detection of recovery of the fault corresponding to the fault generation notification already stored as the alarm generation history to an alarm generation history storage table 122 of the monitoring control package 101 is detected by the microprocessor 105 of the monitoring control package 101, the microprocessor 105 controlled according to the monitoring control package program stores the fault recovery notification as an alarm recovery history to the alarm generation history storage table 122 by corresponding to the fault generation notification that is already stored to the alarm generation history storage table 122, and transfers the fault recovery notification to the master device 104.
Further, the fault recovery notification transmitted as the alarm recovery history from the monitoring control package 101 is received by the microprocessor 112 of the master device 104, and the microprocessor 112 of the master device 104 controlled by the master device program stores the fault recovery notification as the alarm recovery history by corresponding to the alarm generation history that is already stored to the alarm generation history storage table 123 provided to the hard disk 117 that is the storage module of the master device 104. The alarm generation history and the alarm recovery history stored to the alarm generation history storage table 123 of the hard disk 117 and the alarm generation history storage table 122 of the monitoring control package 101 can be displayed on a monitor 121 for allowing an operator to make reference.
Therefore, the fault generation notification related to the fault that is not recovered even after the passage of the time set in advance has passed and the fault recovery notification thereof are saved in the alarm generation history storage table 122 provided to the storage region 110 of the monitoring control package 101 and the alarm generation history storage table 123 provided to the hard disk 117 of the master device 104, respectively, as the alarm generation history and the alarm recovery history. However, the fault generation notification related to the fault that is recovered before the passage of the time set in advance passes and the fault recovery notification thereof, i.e., the fault generation notification solved instantly (referred to as instant fault generation history hereinafter) and the fault recovery notification related thereto (referred to as instant fault recovery history hereinafter) are not saved in the alarm generation history table 122 of the monitoring control package 101, to the data temporary storage region, and to the alarm generation history storage table 123 of the master device 104 at all.
Omission of the recording of the instant fault generation history and the instant fault recovery history is originally done for avoiding frequent generation of alarms by repetition of fault generation and recovery actions in a transient state at the time of fault occurrence. However, if the instant fault generation history and the instant fault recovery history are erased imprudently, a fault causing data error and the like is not recognized as an alarm, which may result in causing a difficulty for pursuing the cause of the fault after the fault is generated and for the maintenance such as recovering works.
The point in regards to ignoring the fault that is recovered in a short time is as depicted in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication Hei 9-64829 (Paragraph 0007: Patent Document 1), Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication 2000-331266 (Paragraph 0004: Patent Document 2), and the like.
It is therefore an exemplary object of the present invention to provide a fault information managing method and a fault information managing program capable of saving an instant fault generation history and an instant fault recovery history without omitting recording thereof and capable of pursuing the cause of the fault that generates data error and the like and performing recovery works and the like accurately.